Bronwyn Harris, Author

...was what I wanted to name this blog pos t.  But they published it, even with another title, so I'm still exited! Please read.   And yes, all true.  I did have teachers try to trade me their black kids for my Samoan kids.  Yes indeed.

In my 8 years of teaching in Oakland, I was lucky to never have my grade level changed in the middle of the school year, but I had plenty of co-workers who did.  The schools try to staff for the kids who will come but they don't actually know who is coming and in which grades.   So every year, teachers would spend hundreds of dollars and countless days on getting their rooms ready, only to have to switch in mid-October. Here's a very brief story about it and another teacher's thoughts , very well explained. My Little Sister's teacher is being consolidated and she LOVES her teacher.  I happen to know that the teacher she's getting is very very good but she's spent 6 weeks bonding with the teacher she has and starting over is scary.

From a teacher who wishes to remain anonymous, after Ann Coulter went off on "useless public sector workers."  [By the way, I don't like to think of human beings as "useless," but if there was one, it would be Ann Coulter] First, Jon Stewart had the best response I've heard to this.  Ever.  Check it out.   Then read this day in the life of a good teacher. I know, I know. But the word useless really got under my skin. "Dear" Ann Coulter, First you called kindergarten teachers "useless public sector workers" and then went on to say that public school teachers get off at 2 and get the summers off. Finally, you implied we're highly paid. Clearly, everything one needs to know really *is* learned in kindergarten: kindness, fairness, honesty, manners... Too bad you were truant. Why don't you walk a mile in the shoes of a "useless public sector worker"? 6:00 Get up, get the tea going, get the lunch ready and th...

I was working on my computer today when I got a facebook post from a friend and former co-worker:     "Hey, I am watching this special on PBS hosted by Tavis Smiley. He is at the Alameda Youth Jail and I think I just saw Fred. I don't remember his last name but I knew him as soon as I saw him. He had the scar on his forehead. Isn't that your old student. They said he was 18. Does that add up" Yes.  yes, it does add up.  Fred (not his real name) was a kid in my first and third grade classes, in 2000 (I came in January and they had had 6 substitutes before then) and then 2001-2002.  He was famous at our school, not least because he was expelled in second grade for hitting a teacher or something like that - I honestly don't remember.  He was brought back for third grade and I requested him again.  He was one of those kids who caused trouble everywhere he went and was so angry that it was just coming out of his pores, even when he was six. ...

I've always liked this man . One year ago: Race Does Matter Two years ago: And...Another Bad Decision

Every good teacher knows that teaching involves a certain amount of strategic dishonesty.  Not necessarily outright lying, but trickery.  I've definitely been known to tell kids that the flashing red light of the motion sensor (to turn the lights on) in the classroom was a camera recording their behavior so their parents and the principal can see how they are acting.  Yesterday, I was working with a particularly difficult teenager on writing.  She has ADD and anxiety, and a bunch of other diagnoses, but I think the main problem, as it often is, is that she doesn't feel like anyone wants her.  She gets shuffled around from guardian to guardian and it's entirely possible that some of them have told her outright that they don't want her.  She is constantly trying to distract me and complaining and telling me she can't do things. We've been working on writing and she's getting pretty good at writing about what she's experiencing.  It was time to introd...

I had a blog published in Teaching Tolerance!  Very exciting.  (Although I don't usually start sentences with "so," so you can tell there was editing.) Read it here .  It explains the origin of the blog's name. One year ago: Being Light Skinded Three years ago: What's Going On Five years ago: Bedtime

Wow, am I glad I don't have to deal with this anymore. Thursday, May 25, 2006 Time Travel and Foolproof Logic The District has reached a new low in logic. For the last few years, we’ve had these things called “Buy-Back Days.” They are professional development days but because of the contract or because the district is cheap or something, they’ve been optional, and only the people who go to them get paid. Then the people who want more money can go, some of us can sleep in, and the district doesn’t have to pay for everyone. Then, to make things a little more confusing, our school is in the “intensive Support Network" and we have three more optional professional development days. For most of these days less than half of our staff showed up, not because we don’t want the extra money, but because we’re generally exhausted. I went to two of them, but I don’t know if they were district-wide or particular to our school. Now things get interesting. We just got a new ...

It is difficult to sit still.  Very difficult.  I can do it if I have my knitting with me, although it's debatable if that actually counts as sitting still.  I was volunteering in a classroom the other day and a 7-year old who has a VERY hard time sitting still and he was doing a great job.  Just a little leg wiggle here and there, but he was really doing a great job.  He twisted just a little in his seat and his teacher yelled, "It's not that hard to sit still!"  Then this teacher went on to berate him, talking about how he never does well enough. I didn't know what to do.  It's not my classroom and I wouldn't appreciate people walking in and critiquing me without knowing my relationship with the student.  However.  It is hard to sit still.  It is very hard to sit still and this child is 7.  And showing remarkable improvement. Sitting still is an achievement for a lot of kids, even with a little leg wiggle. Five yea...

Almost ten years ago, my third graders and I wrote letters to the Oakland City Council about how important it was to keep the libraries open.  The plan was to close a bunch of branches - I can't remember how many - and they were all in the poorer sections of Oakland.  I've mentioned before that the city is quite segregated and the kids are aware of this.  I showed them on the map where the closing branches were and a child pointed out "but those are all the ones near us."  We also looked at where the branches remaining open were and someone pointed out that they were near the white people with money.  It was true.  We had an interesting discussion during which they asked me why people who have money to buy books needed libraries more than them "But we got no books at my house!"  They wrote some passionate letters to the mayor and city council and the libraries stayed open.  I think they may have believed that our class saved the local library. A...

I got this note from a client's parent when she sent me a check.  I think I might frame it. Three years ago: Strange Ways to Prepare for Tests Five years ago: Teacher Appreciation Week                         Violence

I love seeing improvement in students, so h ere's one of my favorites: Sunday, April 16, 2006 Writing Improvement! I thought I'd share a success story - this is about a kid who got held back in first grade and convinced himself he was stupid (his word) and fairly worthless. He's actually very smart (one of those who is too smart for his own good) and understands higher-level concepts than most third graders, but I think he may have some sort of processing problem that makes it harder for him to read and write. Anyway, he finally started believing that he could do the work and working at it and after much hard work and patience, he got the most improved writer award for the last trimester! Here are samples of his writing from October, January, and March. Look at the picture, even the handwriting is like it's from a different child. Each writing sample was supposed to be a paragraph. October : to mack a friend isto be nice and to shar and to play ...

I wanted to re-post this in honor of the great teachers at Urban Promise Middle School.  I haven't been back since this post, but it was just so wonderful... Tuesday, April 14, 2009 The Difference a School Makes Wow. I've talked before about the two kids that a friend and I hang out with, or I guess you could say "mentor" in a way. I'm forgetting the pseudonyms I have them so I'll call them Jorge (the older one) and Luis (the younger). I had Jorge in my class in third grade and he has had it rough. He's the oldest of six children and was born when his mother was 14. His mom is frequently in rehab or jail, although she seems to have been out for the last couple of years. If she's clean or not is anyone's guess. Jorge helped raise Luis, at their grandmother's house (the rest of the kids live with other relatives). He's always been super over-responsible, stressed out, and had way too many adult responsibilities. About a y...

This is a guest blog graciously written by Nealey, who is a secondary school teacher.  She brings up some excellent points.  None of us want the standardized tests to matter, but the fact is that they do in many ways. I hope she'll write more posts in the future! Parents: Don’t tell your children that the standardized tests don’t matter. Standardized tests do matter, but unfortunately the system is flawed.   One of the problems with the tests is that s tudents are not held accountable for their test scores.   In an ideal world, all students would do their best because of the intrinsic value in doing one’s best.  If every student actually did their best then the tests might be a valuable way to judge teachers, schools, and educational programs.  However, we don't live in an ideal world. During testing, some student try their best, other students half-heartedly try, and some students don't try at all.  I have seen students bubble in patterns,...

I've had several people ask me the same basic question about the previous post.   Some variation of this (which I just copied and pasted from the latest email from a friend): I thought it was typically part of the agreements that school districts have with the teachers' unions that required the "last hired, first fired" approach to layoffs.  Is that true?  If so, is it not expected that the layoffs would hit a brand new school like Futures?  Why should I think something different should happen?  Is this not what the teachers have negotiated with the schools? Excellent question.  I answered, but then I ran  my answer by an anonymous teacher friend who helped me edit.  Here is our answer: this part mostly from me, augmented by anonymous friend: You're correct that typically unions have policies of last hired, first fired. The union in this district is no different. In practice, because this is a highly segregated district, teachers wit...

I still get to see this beautiful mural when I volunteer.  It makes the whole school brighter.  Wednesday, February 28, 2007 A Beautiful Mural I've always had this dream that somehow our school could be make more beautiful. I've envisioned a mural of some sort, to bring color to the industrial off-white/off-yellow/beige-ish color of the school (why don't districts pain elementary schools in bright primary colors? Of all the buildings to be a neutral color, elementary schools should not be the ones). I've gone to paint stores to ask about extra paint, and discovered that, at least at the place I went to, they mix all the leftovers together, creating a pukey mud color. Last year, my dream was realized. The principal at the time - we'll call her "Seems Great Then Totally Flakes Out Administrator" was totally on board with the idea, and I just happened to have a friend - Robin the Artist - who was both unemployed and trying to raise money f...

I'd love to get some feedback on this one.  I always gave homework.  Every day.  Often it was very very short, but I gave it every day - including weekends - because the kids I worked with had few opportunities to build responsibility and I wanted them to know that they were responsible for something every day.  Also, they really really needed the practice. I was aware that many of them had chaotic home lives though, and that things came up or they had to help at home.  I told them and their guardians that if they called me or wrote a note - or just had their guardian sign the homework - they wouldn't be penalized for not doing it.  (In third grade, penalized means sitting on the bench for five minutes, but that's a big deal). Now that I'm working most days with an 8th grader, I am a little surprised at the amount of homework he gets but he really needs the practice. Parents and teachers, what do you think about homework?  For it?  Against i...

I saw this story about a parent who basically humiliated her child into doing better in school .  I think before I started teaching, I would have been firmly against this sort of tactic.  However, that was before I realized that doing well in school or not could literally be a matter of life or death in the future - or at least a matter of a life of freedom or behind bars.  If I hadn't done well in school, I probably would have gone to a community college instead of a four-year college.  The culture of my family and friends was such that I would have made those choices.  Many of the kids I have taught have never been around that culture, and dropping out of high school or not doing well would mean they didn't have other options - at least, not other legal options.  That's obviously a generalization, but I really can't blame this mother for feeling desperate. The blogger says: "I'm guessing standing on the corner for four hours with a sign soliciting your...

I'd like to think of myself as a dedicated teacher.  However, there's no way I would do this, just out of sheer exhaustion. The AP English class got cut at one of the small high schools in the more difficult part of Oakland and the teachers are teaching it anyway .  For free.  Before school and during their prep time.  And the students are taking it.  Pretty amazing. Three years ago: From Mexico, Part 2 Four years ago: No Child Left Behind, Football Version                         A Year Off

Just when I start really missing teaching, I remember that, although I miss the relationships I had with the students, I really really don't miss the bureaucracy.  Here's a look into a professional development session, four years ago.  You can see that the intent is good but that none of our specific needs were taken into account, making the whole thing almost useless.  This is time that could be spent really helping teachers who need ideas and strategies, and it's hard not to feel bitter when it's wasted. Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Professional Development We read a story about Picasso which told about his Blue Period. We tried a Blue Period too - I don't know which shades of blue Picasso had, but we used black, white, royal blue, sky blue, turquoise, and glitter blue. Picasso could have used glitter blue. ---------------------------- Professional development is often an exercise in boredom and/or sitting still. I never like it. Today we ...